"Did you ever study English, Henry?" said Rollo.
"No," said Henry; "but I wish I could speak English, very much."
"Why?" asked Rollo.
"Because there are so many English people coming here that I have to guide up the mountains."
"Well," said Rollo, "you can begin now. I will teach you."
So he began to teach the guide to say "How do you do?" in English.
This conversation between Rollo and Henry was in French. Rollo had studied French a great deal by the help of books when he was at home, and he had taken so much pains to improve by practice since he had been in France and Switzerland that he could now get along in a short and simple conversation very well.
While our party had been coming up the mountain, the weather, though perfectly clear and serene in the morning, had become somewhat overcast. Misty clouds were to be seen here and there floating along the sides or resting on the summits of the mountains. At length, while Rollo was in the midst of the English lesson which he was giving to the guide, his attention was arrested, just as they were emerging from the border of a little thicket of stunted evergreens, by what seemed to be a prolonged clap of thunder. It came apparently out of a mass of clouds and vapor which Rollo saw moving majestically in the southern sky.
"Thunder!" exclaimed Rollo, looking alarmed. "There's thunder!"
"No," said Henry; "an avalanche."